The Medicine Hat News reported in its January 15 issue of changes in the management structure at Pure Lean Hog Inc.  Pure Lean has been developing an award winning environmentally friendly and efficient method of raising hogs which replaces the conventional liquid manure waste process with dry composting.  Company founder Bob Notembomer has given up the CEO position.  He will remain as Board Chairman and continue as a development consultant.  Moving to CEO post is Dr. Richard Coleman who will also remain as Vice- President Research.  Dr. Coleman joined the firm in July 2002 after retiring as a senior scientist with the Alberta Research Council.  Taking on the Vice President job is company veteran Myles Warken and Peter Van Montfort becomes Chief Financial Officer under the new alignment.  The company is expected to centre its operations at its Dunmore manufacturing facility as one of several cost cutting measures.

Eric Bachleitners column in the Medicine Hat News of January 16, 2003 chose Steve Letkeman's Zanthic Technologies Inc. (www.zanthic.com) as an example of the nearly invisible companies which increasingly make up the post-industrial employment scene.  Zanthic develops and markets micro-contoller based systems used in a variety of industrial control applications.  His Controller Area Networks (CAN) are designed and assembled in Medicine Hat where his staff also write the extensive software that gives these systems their power and versatility.  With the use of powerful CAD software and contracted printed circuit board fabricators, Zanthic produces its product from premises which to all intents and purposes look like any small suburban office.

Defence R&D Canada recently awarded its top group award to a team of scientists at Defence Research and Development Canada's Suffield centre for its outstanding achievement in supporting the development of the Canadian  Integrated Biochemical Agent Detection System (CIBADS).  This system is unique in its ability to rapidly identify chemical or biological warfare agents in a suspect aerosol cloud.  This development puts Canada in the forefront of an increasingly important defence technology

The Government of Canada has responded to increased threat levels to domestic security with its CBRN Research and Technology Initiative which will spend $8.4 million to help counter possible chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear terrorist acts.  Twelve of 24 of the projects approved for funding will be implemented at Suffield and will go towards creating a Counter-Terror Technology Centre.  The Centre will build on the established DRDC-Suffield expertise in chemical and biological defence.

DRDC - Suffield recently  took delivery of  Chemical/Biological Forensic Reference Laboratory as part of the build up of its Counter-Terror Technology Centre. This modular laboratory, built by Certek in North Carolina, will allow the safe disassembly of suspected biological or chemical terrorist devices and the analysis of their contents.  A total of $12.5 million is expected to be spent on the Counter-Terror Technology Centre whose role is to provide training and analytical back up for first responders to a terrorist incident and to develop specialized equipment for internal security.